Coasting Along

I made two little coasters out of two pieces of fabric and a piece of felt sandwiched in the middle.I used lime green embroidery thread to stitch around the limes and around the edges. It makes a nice place to sit my soda when I'm on the computer or sewing. I can almost fool myself into thinking I'm having a margarita. (My drinking and sewing days are over ever since I sliced my left index finger into two pulpy halves with my rotary cutter whilst imbibing a Mike's Hard Lemonade.
First I stuck my finger in my mouth, then I pulled it out and looked at it, almost fainted, ran to the kitchen sink and put it under running water. Then I looked at it again. Almost fainted again. I jumped around on one foot and hollered and screamed and said many bad words. I wrapped it in a paper towel and sat on the edge of the tub thinking I really should go to the emergency room and get stitches, but the thought of going out in the middle of the night and sitting in the emergency room for several hours was totally repulsive. I finally called a friend I have who is a phd in Chemistry and whose husband works for a drug company (thats as close as my friends get to medical personnel). They said put a bandaid on it and if it quits bleeding within 30 minutes, I probably didn't have to go to the emergency room. That was good enough for me. I put that bandaid on and went to bed. It's been 4 months and I still don't have feeling back in the edge of that finger, but it's beginning to tingle, so I think the nerves are growing back. That's my testimonial to why you should never drink and sew.)
Please note that the back is all one fabric. I was able to control my urge to piece different colors seeing as the thing is only about 4 inches by 5 1/2 inches.

Finished UFO's and A Moth Critter

Batman finally gets his bunny pillow. In spite of early misgivings, he had the tact to be thrilled and to oh and ah for an appropriate amount of time. He's very good at saying the right thing and shouted, "Oh! Just what I always wanted!" when I gave it to him. He seemed to have forgotten his previous criticisms about the unlikelihood of a rabbit wearing shorts.

The next one I make will have to be from his drawing, as I promised him that after I made his sister's robot pillow.


This is a detail of the back of my "Pearl Harbor" quilt that I just finished binding. I'd sent it away to a lovely woman in S.C. to machine quilt and got it back a week or so ago. The planes and islands reminded me of Pearl Harbor. I'm probably the only one who makes that connection. The planes are all American planes (someone with very little imagination pointed that out to me)and aren't all war planes. Well, the feel of it was "pearl harborish" to me, anyway.


This is the complete back. I can't do solid sheets of fabric for the backs because I get too bored. I try, but just can't. I've always wanted to make a two color quilt, but I'm not sure I could keep my color greedy mitts out of the tint and hue till. I'm too easily swayed by a pretty color.
Here's the front. I designed my own block and learned quite a bit about what not to do and why certain things don't work. Maybe I should have called it "tropical chaos." Well, it's cheerful in the bleak days of winter.

I bought this sweater at the Salvation Army and then washed it and dried it so I could make some fuzzy little critters out of it. Sadie drew a moth and I got all excited about the striped body that I thought she'd drawn. When she saw it, she poked her lip out and insisted she had not drawn stripes on her moth. I insisted she had. We rooted around and found the original drawing. Damn if she wasn't right! She had drawn it on notebook paper and somehow my eyes had seen the notebook paper lines as stripes. (So, I stand corrected, or "I stand correctly" as she likes to say.)


So this version has been totally rejected--she said I could keep it. And now I will be making another version from an old purple sweater she outgrew and doing it "correctly" this time and putting spots on the wings. It's so nice to have inhouse critics to keep me on the straight and narrow.

Making Merry

Oh, I am in love with blue lights!

Sam has really fallen head over heels for Christmas this year. He is decorating everything and he keeps wrapping up his toys in his clothes to put under the tree. Perhaps I should have given him some wrapping paper. But last year, he got carried away with the tape and I'm still peeling his handiwork off the floor and walls and backs of furniture. He walks around saying, very gravely, "At Christmas you don't need magic. Because Christmas has its own magic." He keys in on certain phrases his teacher or favorite cartoons say and then repeats them verbatim for some time, as if he is soaking up the wisdom of the remarks. Maybe he'll grow up to be a philosopher. Or a parrot.
We got Jim a Lone Ranger Christmas ornament because he is such a old Westerns/Cowboy fanatic.
And the little red cross stitch ornament was given to me by some Haitian refugees I helped tutor in NY some 15 odd years ago.
These are two of our new ornaments that the kids helped me pick out.

What is Old is New Again

When I was a kid, my mother had a sewing machine. I was in awe of it but also a little scared of it. The needle seemed a wild and uncontrollable thing, something that would go right through your fingernail given half the chance. I remembered it was a pale green with a light green and dark green case. I can still hear the snap of the locks on the sides clicking into place. To be honest, I hadn't thought of that old machine in a good 20 years. My boyfriend offered to buy me whatever I wanted for Christmas. I had my eye on a Ruby Red 1950's Singer Featherweight like the one my roommate had in college (hers was the standard black). I was cruising Ebay looking at what was available and had a bid in for $400 on the Featherweight (since I wasn't paying for it, it seemed reasonable). I let it go at $405, though because I just can't justify spending that much for the color and that was truly what had me hooked. Than I came across this machine with the color called Jadite. That sounds like a group of troublemakers who might have hung with the Soddomites and citizens of Gomorrah(I probably misspelled that. It's been a long time since bible school.) When I opened the page, low and behold it was the exact same machine that my mama had. I got all sentimental and nostalgic and bought it, thus saving my boyfriend about $300. I have a little Viking, but I wanted something heavy duty to sew tough stuff on. It was the color and the light that got me going though. That light is just too cute. I'd be quite content to strap it on my forehead and wear it around like a miner's light. Anyway, that's the picture from ebay that the seller put up. Once I get it, I'll put up my own photo (seeing as I might be illegally using his/her image. This kind of thing gets so confusing.) Don't they say you marry one parent and turn into the other? Well, I'm definitely turning into my mother.
This is the little sewing machine I bought for Sadie. Or rather that we asked Santa to bring to Sadie. I got it off e-bay because I wasn't too crazy about all the cheap plastic kids' sewing machines I was seeing in the stores, but I didn't want to spend $300 for the nicer ones. So, hopefully, it will be in working order. Otherwise, I'll have to use that story about Santa dropping it while he was coming down the chimney and we'll have to take it to be fixed.

Still Cheap, Still Remodeling

Key bowl at entry. Rice Crispie Logo. Unbreakable plastic. 50 cents from Goodwill.
Favorite magazines. Imports so ridiculously expensive for my one year subscriptions. On top of my Pearl Harbor Quilt I just got back from Bonnie's Quilting. She did a fantastic job machine quilting it. Now I have to bind it.
View of my area from the top step in the hall. Still a little cluttered.
The book wall. Still in need of organizing.

Diniyoyo Glam Shots

This is Diniyoyo, my blog's namesake. She's from a breeder in MA, who swore up and down that English Setters were not one-person dogs. I just think she forgot to tell Dini.
I've pretty much spoiled her rotten. We got her when she was a year and a half and had been returned by the first buyer. I think that buyer might have mistreated her because she is afraid of men and very skittish if someone starts to take off their belt. She's sweet but ditzy and skittish.

She likes to curl her lip up and do Elvis impressions. Her cheeks are immensely kissable and her fur feels like an angora rabbit's coat. She likes to rest her head on my thigh when I sit down. When it comes to the children, she's very tolerant but sees them as residing somewhere beneath her in the heirarchy. This makes it acceptable to cozy up to them when they are eating and if they should perchance glance away for a second, to snatch their food.
She's quite fond of stalking squirrels and gets very put out if you try to distract her when she's intent on this business. She's a great snuggler, my mood enhancing drug of choice, intensely loyal, and quite forgiving.
She attempts to help with household chores, but, alas, her inability to pass up a good sleeping spot gets in the way. She is also not adverse to commandeering Sadie's crib if her other preferred napping spots are not available.
Diniyoyo, Sweet and Simple.

Pin Cushions

To help tidy up my sewing area, I sewed a needlecase, a pincushion and a sewing machine cover. I stuffed the pincushion with woodshavings I had bought for the gerbils but then learned wasn't good for them. I made it following a tutorial I found on Craftster and used a big, fat cotton thread I got from the Goodwill.

The color was "Alpine Moss." If I had to do it all over again, I think I would have trained to be a lipstick color/embroidery thread/interior wallpaint namer. what fun to sit around coming up with names like "alpine moss" or "candy apple" or ...oh, I just realized I wouldn't be able to keep the job. I keep coming up with things like "frog's belly" for a certain translucent shade of white. Or "moldy orange" for that beautiful light blue with a touch of gray color of the mold that grows on oranges that have sat too long at the bottom of the fruit bowl. And the name "Tibetan Yak" appeals to me but I have no color to go with it. But "Monkey Brown" would be a wonderfully fun color, don't you think. I see I lack that certain reverence for the romantic when it comes to naming things.

I made one pincushion because I needed it. Then I got carried away. I swear I try to stick to that idea that "less is more," but "more is more" seems to be carved into my bones. So I have four pincushions now. And I have a few more variations on buttons and ties I'd like to try. Here are three orange ones stacked on top of each other and a little doll that I found for a dollar on one of my forays to the Goodwill this week. It reminds me of an Anne Geddes picture. It looks like a caterpillar with its knitted body. The antennas are what did me in.

I saw a little picture in a Japanese craft book of an orange made in this fashion, only smaller and made from whatlooked like felt and with a few green leaves attached. So I did some pincushions in orange to see if the floss would split the fabric in to sections so that it looked like a sliced orange.
I just used a flipped over bowl to trace a circle on freezer paper and then cut out a template. I stuffed them with wood shavings--which is a wee bit messy to work with--and sewed buttons over the center to hide their belly buttons. It's great fun to pull the string tight and watch them seize up. The look a little bit like whoopee cushions when you first make them, before you string them up.
I'm very satisfied with the slight crunch and the tinge of resistance you get when you poke a pin in. It's like biting into a Slim Jim. Fluffy stuffing wouldn't have been quite as tactilly rewarding.
So, I want to try and make some fruit pincushions and some squares. It's a little infectious since they are so quick to make. My final picture is of a mother and baby manatee statue that I picked up at--none other than--the local thrift stop.I'm a sucker for baby animals and their mamas.

Studio Remodeling on the Cheap

When you walk in the front door, you have walked into my workspace. It was the only room in the house that I could commandeer. It also serves as a front entry, the place with the woodburning stove, the library, and the dog's favorite sleeping spot. Oh, and the home office. Needless to say, it is not pretty. However, this weekend, it became unbearable. Before I had children, this house seemed big enough for my needs. Now, with the addition of two children, a boyfriend, and a birddog, I feel like we're living in a thimble. But I refuse to move. I bought this house after my divorce and have put too much time, energy and love into the house and yard. I plan to grow old here.

With that in mind and with my miniscule budget, I set about making my area liveable and semi-tidy. This is a corner of the room. There is a picture of Sally Mann's photo "The Last Time Emmett Posed Nude" on the wall. I love her photos and bought the book just so I could cut out the pictures and frame them. Under that is a print I did. The rest of the wall is lined with books and I have a vision of one day shelving a fine, thin tome of poetry and having the whole house collapse from the combined weight of books and junk.
I had been at the Goodwill looking for a dresser for extra storage in my workspace and I stumbled upon these two pieces. I didn't realize they were a set until I got them home and set up together (duh!). My only excuse is that in the jumble of the Goodwill it is quite difficult to figure out what is what. I really, really love them. They create a long surface for cutting or ironing. I toy with the idea of painting them, but for now I'm happy with them the way they are.

This room was originally the living room in my 1950's split level ranch so this is where gthe fireplace is. I had a soapstone stove installed this summer and this was the obvious place to put it. The only drawback is that anything flammable has to be 36 inches away from it. Tell the dog that. She likes to stretch out in front of it and go to sleep. It was very expensive (about $3200 installed), but it really heats up the house nicely.

My children love to pull their beanbags up to it and play their leapsters or do their homework or drink hot chocolate. Of course, Diniyoyo gets a little bitter when they encroach on her territory and will sometimes try to crawl in their beanbags with them.
Details from my new studio. This is the yarn jar, so I can see all the colors, even if I can't think of a name for them that is appropriately romantic.

This is a magazine rack I bought at the beloved Goodwill for $4.
This is the bill basket that hangs near the door over the recycling basket. I'm thinking to make a little tag for it that says "Odious Bills and Accursed Correspondence."

Cheerful and bright toy companions. They make me happy to look at. However, they are constantly being "borrowed" by the children. They suffer from the misguided notion that grownups can't have toy-toys.
This is the sewing machine cover I made and that I am disproportionately proud of. I had to figure out myself how to do it and I am not known for my cleverness in such sewing situations. I am inordinately fond of long straight seams. Curves and Y-seams give me the heebeejeebies.
Part of the fabric stash, enclosed in a metal cabinet from Staples. I have painted the side and front two doors the same color as my entry door. Because it is metal, I use magnets to stick things on it and sometimes use it as a design wall. Other times I just spread things on an available bed or a cleared space on the floor. I'm thinking to get some fuzzy backed vinyl that I can hang in front of the bookcase when I need a design wall.

We Toooooo Stupid!

It's December so the kids and I made our annual trek to the beach. I don't know why we can't be like normal folk and go in the summer. Other than the fact that I hate the crowds and the smell of sweat and suntan oil. So at 6:00 a.m. on the dot, Saturday morning, I was awakened by Sadie shouting from her bedroom, "When are we going to the beach?" I cursed myself many times over for ever mentioning the idea of an early morning jaunt to my child with a memory like an elephant on ginseng.

It was quite balmy when we left home. We even had some discussion of dabbling our feet in the surf. We sailed along in our Honda Odyssey, thinking ourselves quite the adventurers as we made our way to the coast. We ohhhed and ahhhhed over the quaint little coastal towns and when we pulled into the Guilford Yacht Club parking lot and saw the sun sparkling on the sea, we were beside ourselves with joy. No mind there wasn't another soul in site. We clambered out of the van and were hit by what can only be described as an Artic blast. I started to say something encouraging, but my teeth began to chatter and I was trying to remember what in God's name I was doing dragging my two six year olds out into the wee morning hours to a deserted parking lot in the middle of December. I ushered them onto a rock in front of the ocean so I could take a picture and then we all bolted back to the van.
We sat and admired the ocean from the comfort of our automobile. After some time, our teeth stopped chattering and we continued on our merry way to a local restaurant, which was really the purpose of our shoreline visit--to eat out for breakfast. I have to say I do love the simple, rustic architecture of beach shacks. And I get woozy from the smell of sun warmed, damp wood mixed with salty air.